Worlds fastest IPA!

All I drink is IPA's. I know, boring, but it is what I like. I have been super busy with work and life so I was considering a new tech. I was thinking that the "15 min boil" would be a good technique for me, with all of the late hop additions. I have 35 lbs of hops in my freezer and no time to brew. (I bought all the hops 5 month's ago when I wasn't that busy and thought the hop prices would never get any better and got a killer deal on them.) This seems like a good way to free up some freezer space and make beer in short order!

My question is, does the flavor of the beer suffer with this style of brewing. I have bought DME in a 50 lb sack, so I figure if I do something like this, and if it tastes equally as good as a mini mash, I will be stoked!

Anyone have any problems with off flavors or sub par brew?

Recipe idea...............

15 Min Cali IPA

10 gal batch


12.5 lbs Pilsn DME
1.5 lb corn sugar
2lb Munich
1lb Crystal 40
1lb Crystal 120
1lb Carapils
4oz amarillo 15 min
4oz columbus 15 min
3oz amarillo 10 min
1.5 oz amarillo 5 min
1.5 oz centennial 5 min
1.5 oz amarillo 0 min
1.5 oz centennial 0min

3oz Columbus Dry hop
3oz Amarillo Dry hop
3oz Centiennial Dry hop
3oz Chinook Dry hop

est ibu 85
est srm 12.5
est og 1.074
safale us05
ferm temp 66 ramp to 70





Any ideas or advice.........? I love me some hops!

With a 15 minute boil, the bittering quality of the hops will not be able to work. They need a lot longer to break down the (lupulin is it?) that bitters the beer.

I would slow it down and take your time. You will have it in fermenters/bottles for like 6 weeks anyway.

A 15 minute boil will only lower it from 6 weeks to 5 weeks-6 days-23 hours and 15 miutes.

I understand your point, but the time I actively spend brewing is what I am concerned with shortening. I know it will be fermenting and dry hopping for a long time, but I will be brewing this on a weekday after an 8 hour day at work and I really want the brew day to be as short as possible. Im sure there have been others on this forum that have dreamed about the fastest brew day possible....

The only way I could see you doing a short brew is with pre hopped LME. Since the pre hopped stuff has been boiled, it has the bittering you will need. Then you can add your hops for aromoa and flavor.

I don't have any experience with shortening the boil. If you are set on doing it, I might pick a less hoppy beer than an IPA unless you buy in major bulk, or are willing to spend ~60$ on hops!

with all the time spent on cleaning, setup, heating of water, steeping grains, sanitizing, and clean up that needs to be done anyways...what's another 30min of boiling (doing a 45min boil anyways)? So you go from a 2hour brew to a 2.5 hour brew. I think you would be better off making your day more efficient (i.e. cleaning up while chilling) then cutting corners on boil time.


...and does 12oz of hops for dry hopping a 10g batch seem obscene to anyone else?

I understand your time constraints I too have been in the position of only having the opportunity to brew on a weeknight after a full day of work. Usually I just try to throw in as much of my daily life stuff while I am brewing as possible.

Start water when I walk in the door at 5:30. Mini-mash for an hour. During mini mash make, eat, clean up dinner. Start the boil. Boil for 60 minutes. Clean brewing stuff, sanitize carboy, etc while the boil is going. Cool wort, pitch yeast, finish cleanup. Done and cleaned up by 9:30. It makes for a short evening other then brewing but it seems to me it is better then potentially wasting a bunch of ingredients by trying to hurry and as a plus my kitchen is usually cleaner then when I started.

Bjornbrewer said:

with all the time spent on cleaning, setup, heating of water, steeping grains, sanitizing, and clean up that needs to be done anyways...what's another 30min of boiling (doing a 45min boil anyways)? So you go from a 2hour brew to a 2.5 hour brew. I think you would be better off making your day more efficient (i.e. cleaning up while chilling) then cutting corners on boil time.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY what I was thinking. If you're going through the effort of all the other stuff, might as well dedicate another half hour or so to making something worth while.

I know you're busy, but MAKE TIME for the brewing. You are willing to make time for the other things. Make time for this. Then it will be done.

Bjornbrewer said:

...and does 12oz of hops for dry hopping a 10g batch seem obscene to anyone else?

Click to expand...

I do.
I put 2 oz of leaf hops in a 5 gallon batch and after I dropped them in I realized that it was probably too much. I'm pretty sure there are a bunch not even in the wort.

I remember listening to a podcast (think it was Jamil, but not sure) concerning "hopbursting". The idea is exactly what you propose- large amounts of hops late for big hop flavor and aroma. I'm sketchy on the details, but if you have the hops to do it then I say go for it!

You won't get enough bitterness and you probably don't want 4 oz of columbus at 15 anyway.

I would cut way back on the 15 minute addition and probably the dry hopping a bit as well (seems excessive) and then buy the isomerized alpha acid extract (morebeer.com carries it) and bitter the beer to taste in the keg.

So get all your flavor and aroma in your 15 minute boil and then add back whatever bitterness you need.

I think you will extract a fair amount of bitterness from the 15 minute additions. More than some people expect you will get. I'm pretty sure there is a recipe on Basic Brewing Radio for a 15 minute amarillo APA. Now obviously an IPA needs more bitterness but you are compensating for that by upping your additions.

The hops you use should be dictated by your preferences, but the 4 ounces of columbus will lend a pretty hefty dank piney bite for sure. If you like the heavy Columbus flavor then go for it.

I play around quite a bit with hop bursting and enjoy the heavy complex floral charachter it imparts. I personally like to layer that floral flavor over a more base bittering hop near the start of the boil like Chinook, Columbus, Warrior, Magnum. That is just my taste.

If it were me I would push the boil out to 30 minutes and start with maybe 3 or 4 ounces of the columbus as you primary bittering hop, then layer all those yummy Centennial and Amarillo hops in between 15 mins and flameout.

Also I didn't see you mention if they are pellet or leaf hops, but 12 ounces of dry hop is a hefty amount, and if they are leaf they will soak up a fair bit of wort. If you are looking for some really heavy hop flavor and aroma like a Stone Ruination or Pliney kinda thing, then the 12 ounces may be appropriate.

If you've never done the hop-bursting, I suggest it.

I do a west-coast style amber that I dry hop exclusively from 20 minutes on using Amarillo and Simcoe. It really gives it a nice hop flavor and aroma, and the bitterness is still extracted no problem.

I wonder if you have the time to make a concentrated 60 minute boil hop tea ( just some hops and water) ahead of time and store in the fridge in say a mason jar or something. Then on your brewday do the 15 minute boil with the tea added and flavor additions as normal.

Busy morning for me also, but let me throw in my $0.02.

I've only done about 50-some extract batches to date, so I'm not exactly an expert, but what you propose is very close to what I am doing now. If you haven't read this thread, you might find it informative.

At this point, when I make an IPA, I usually do a 30-minute boil, and not even with all the wort. I'm using Mr. Beer kegs as fermenters, and I don't use a wort chiller. Instead, I use refrigerated water. I put a gallon of refrigerated water into the Mr. Beer keg, and then I pour in the hot wort, and top off with more refrigerated water. My brewpot is a 6-quart stainless pot, which I usually fill with roughly 4 quarts of wort. That's my boil volume. For me, a typical IPA batch goes like this:






1) steep grains in 2-4 quarts of water for 30 min @ 155F, and start batch of hop tea in my french press (more on that below);


2) strain grains from wort, add hops, more water;

3) boil wort with hops for about 30 min. (sometimes I add hops throughout the boil, at knockout-20 minutes, or knockout-10 minutes, or at the end);


4) strain hops from wort (clogs spigot on fermenter otherwise);
5) add extract to wort, heat to 180F;
6) pour refrigerated water into Mr. Beer keg, pour hot wort in after, and then add hop tea, about 2 pints usually, top off with refrigerated water.

My batch processing times usually run about 1.5 hours per batch. I use an electric stove, and it doesn't pump out the BTUs like a big gas burner would. So some of that time is spent just waiting for the stuff to heat up.

I don't know that I'd be happy with an IPA that was made with extract only and no other malts, so I can't see how I can cut the time down on this any more than I already have.

Regarding the hop tea, I usually weigh out about 1 oz of whatever whole hop will be used in the tea, then I add a couple jiggers of vodka to the hops in the french press. Then I put in about a quart of 170F water, and I let it steep while I do the rest of the batch. If I think the french press is cooling off too much, I will sometimes take some of the tea out and reheat it in the microwave and then put it back in the french press.

I'm not making Pliny the Elder here at home, admittedly, but everyone who tries my beer (including the IPAs) seems to like it, and now that my focus is IPAs, mainly, I'm sure I'll be able to improve the final product.

BTW, the hops you see in the strainer picture above is about 5 oz of hop pellets (yes, for a 2.5 gallon batch). According to the online calculator I used, that batch clocked in at 86 IBUs.

Hop bursting works fine. Half the alpha acids are in solution at 15 minutes and isomerization starts almost instantly.

david_42 said:

Hop bursting works fine. Half the alpha acids are in solution at 15 minutes and isomerization starts almost instantly.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I am with David on this one, the only reason I see not to do this is to save some money, which the OP doesn't care about because he has an obscene amount of hops.

With that dry hop, you are basically making something that will smell, taste, and feel like a hop. You will also be lucky to get 8gal. That being said, you may have a competitor to Pliny, you may not. Only one way to know.

Don't listen to the naysayers in here, who have obviously never done this. Late hopping works great and the flavor is better, IMO. Personally, I think you get better balance with 20 minute or less hopping. Don't believe me, believe Jamil.

Assuming you’re getting about 30% utilization at 60 minutes, you’ll get around 17% at 20 minutes, 14% at 15 minutes, and around 10% at 10 minutes.​

And yes, every IPA in my sig is late-hopped, no bittering hops. Works great.

If you really don't have time, do the 15 min boil, and let it set overnight ("no chill brewing"). You will get increased bitter with the slow cool down (so normal amount of hops) and can still add dry hops when you pitch. (most no-chill timetables for hops use only a 20 min boil of the hops because of this)

This way you can boil for 15 min, take off 1 quart and put it in the freezer for a few minutes, and make a real wort starter. next morning, pitch your starter and you are done for the next few weeks.

At least one person on the list does the primary fermentation in the boil pot (its already sterilized) so only have to clean the starter jar.

Am I missing something? The op is talking about a 15 minute boil, that's NOT hop bursting. Adding all hops in the last 20 minutes. They still require a normal boil. Jamils evil twin is a 90 minute boil.

OP is using extract.

wildwest450 said:

Am I missing something? The op is talking about a 15 minute boil, that's NOT hop bursting. Adding all hops in the last 20 minutes. They still require a normal boil. Jamils evil twin is a 90 minute boil.

Click to expand...

This will kill his hop flavor! Cool that wort as quickly as possible or the precious flavor/aroma oils will disappear. Read Jamil's article! Plenty of IBUs even at 15 minutes if you use extra hops.

Jeez people, IBUs are not what make a great IPA. To paraphrase Charles Barkley, any knucklehead can get IBUs. Flavor and aroma, that's the hard part, and it's what separates a B- IPA from an A.

Nobody's ever drank one of my late-hopped IPAs and said, "not bitter enough." :cross:

bonsai4tim said:

If you really don't have time, do the 15 min boil, and let it set overnight ("no chill brewing"). You will get increased bitter with the slow cool down (so normal amount of hops) and can still add dry hops when you pitch. (most no-chill timetables for hops use only a 20 min boil of the hops because of this)

This way you can boil for 15 min, take off 1 quart and put it in the freezer for a few minutes, and make a real wort starter. next morning, pitch your starter and you are done for the next few weeks.

At least one person on the list does the primary fermentation in the boil pot (its already sterilized) so only have to clean the starter jar.

Click to expand...

Just boil in 4 different pots for 15 minutes each... 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 60




















































...just kidding!

$bill said:

I don't use a wort chiller. Instead, I use refrigerated water. I put a gallon of refrigerated water into the Mr. Beer keg, and then I pour in the hot wort, and top off with more refrigerated water.

Click to expand...

Be careful with this. While you DO want to get oxygen into your wort at this time - add the hot wort to the cold water, it can get oxydized which is a bad thing. I may have the wording somewhat off - but I just read about this in Palmers book so I guess just be careful.

why not just put the bitter hops in at the very start
before you have even put the fire on

that way the hops are in there as the water heats
i cant remember what thats call but i do it alot
it like first wort hopping or something like that.

http://www.brewery.org/library/1stwort.html

WOW, this thread got a lot of activity in the past 24 hours!!! Here are my replys.

YooperBrew said:

I remember listening to a podcast (think it was Jamil, but not sure) concerning "hopbursting". The idea is exactly what you propose- large amounts of hops late for big hop flavor and aroma. I'm sketchy on the details, but if you have the hops to do it then I say go for it!

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I am going for with this recipe.

Zen_Brew said:

I think you will extract a fair amount of bitterness from the 15 minute additions. More than some people expect you will get. I'm pretty sure there is a recipe on Basic Brewing Radio for a 15 minute amarillo APA. Now obviously an IPA needs more bitterness but you are compensating for that by upping your additions.

That is where I got the idea for an IPA with the same tech as his 15 min amarillo pale ale. Ive gotta use these hops before they skunk (good excuse eh?)

The hops you use should be dictated by your preferences, but the 4 ounces of columbus will lend a pretty hefty dank piney bite for sure. If you like the heavy Columbus flavor then go for it.

I do like that danky quality of columbus


I play around quite a bit with hop bursting and enjoy the heavy complex floral charachter it imparts. I personally like to layer that floral flavor over a more base bittering hop near the start of the boil like Chinook, Columbus, Warrior, Magnum. That is just my taste.

If it were me I would push the boil out to 30 minutes and start with maybe 3 or 4 ounces of the columbus as you primary bittering hop, then layer all those yummy Centennial and Amarillo hops in between 15 mins and flameout.

Perhaps, maybe if I want more BU's that would be the way to go.

Also I didn't see you mention if they are pellet or leaf hops, but 12 ounces of dry hop is a hefty amount, and if they are leaf they will soak up a fair bit of wort. If you are looking for some really heavy hop flavor and aroma like a Stone Ruination or Pliney kinda thing, then the 12 ounces may be appropriate.

Click to expand...

They are pellet and the pliney kinda thing is what I'm going for, without the gnarly bu's that are in that beer, although tasty. I really like the floral explosion of aroma and the clean bitter of hop bursting. It is so delicious!

$bill said:

Busy morning for me also, but let me throw in my $0.02.

Click to expand...

Crazy detailed post for a busy morning. Thanks for all the info.

Brewinator said:

Don't listen to the naysayers in here, who have obviously never done this. Late hopping works great and the flavor is better, IMO. Personally, I think you get better balance with 20 minute or less hopping. Don't believe me, believe Jamil.

Assuming you’re getting about 30% utilization at 60 minutes, you’ll get around 17% at 20 minutes, 14% at 15 minutes, and around 10% at 10 minutes.​

And yes, every IPA in my sig is late-hopped, no bittering hops. Works great.

Click to expand...

I think its a west coast IPA thing.....

wildwest450 said:

Am I missing something? The op is talking about a 15 minute boil, that's NOT hop bursting. Adding all hops in the last 20 minutes. They still require a normal boil. Jamils evil twin is a 90 minute boil.

Click to expand...

Jamil is adamant about 90 min boils for driving off dms precursers and flavor complexity. I am using DME and that changes the approach I take with brewing. If I were doing an allgrain brew I would brew for 90 min and I wouldn't use this hopping schedule if I tossed hops at 90 min.

Brewinator said:

This will kill his hop flavor! Cool that wort as quickly as possible or the precious flavor/aroma oils will disappear. Read Jamil's article! Plenty of IBUs even at 15 minutes if you use extra hops.

I use the counterflow imersion chiller and get 12 gal to 65 in 14 min. Obscenely quick. Works great but requires a march pump, which is a must imho if doing 10gal batches on a 2 tier system.

Jeez people, IBUs are not what make a great IPA. To paraphrase Charles Barkley, any knucklehead can get IBUs. Flavor and aroma, that's the hard part, and it's what separates a B- IPA from an A.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Its not BU's it AU's (aromatic units!)

Nobody's ever drank one of my late-hopped IPAs and said, "not bitter enough." :cross:

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the input!

Brewinator said:

Primary: Amarillo DIPA 3.0
Primary: Cascade IPA
Primary: Centennial DIPA
Chilling: Low Tide DIPA (Amarillo, Centennial, triple dry hop)
Chilling: Simcoe DIPA
Bottled: Bohemian Pils DIPA (Saaz)
Bottled: Banana Bread Ale
Bottled: Homegrown Cascade Wheat DIPA

Click to expand...

Your sig is really inspiring. So I see you like IPA's also! Frickin awesome

Let us know what you decide and how it turns out. Those hops play pretty well together so it should be yummy.

I do see your dilema needing to use some of those hops up before they cheese out on you. If you have unopened bags that are properly vacuumed and sealed I have heard that they have a pretty long life in the freezer, I have heard as long as a year or more. I have used pellet hops that I keep in the freezer in vacuumed mason jars several months out with no ill effects in the aroma or taste. It is oxygen exposure and warmth that quickens their demise.

if you don't have an extra 30 minutes to boil, you should just do this technique. you can have 10 gallons of IPA in about 20 minutes from start to finish, clean up included.

recipe is as follows:










drive to the store and by 4 cases of stone ipa. drive home and drink it.

blackwaterbrewer said:

if you don't have an extra 30 minutes to boil, you should just do this technique. you can have 10 gallons of IPA in about 20 minutes from start to finish, clean up included.

recipe is as follows:


drive to the store and by 4 cases of stone ipa. drive home and drink it.

Click to expand...

Well now that's just plain boring. Im trying to be creative with my recipe. Where is your adventurous spirit?

another option that would elimate a lot of time is skipping the minimash. you can make a great IPA with just the pils and sugar as fermentables, the pils dme also has a little carapils in it

Beard said:

The only way I could see you doing a short brew is with pre hopped LME. Since the pre hopped stuff has been boiled, it has the bittering you will need. Then you can add your hops for aromoa and flavor.

Click to expand...

This makes sense.... I would still try to find the time to have a 60 minute boil.

I don't think it'll work either, but my first rule of homebrewing is "It's your damn beer so do what you want and to hell with the naysayers". So, if you really want to try this then go for it!

Worst thing that happens is that you have to come back and say "Well, that didn't work worth a crap." and try something else next time. If you can afford to risk the cost of an entire batch and all those hops, give it a shot!

People here give GREAT advice and this place has been a fantastic resource for me and so many other people, but sometimes the best way to learn is from your own experiments be them victories or failures.

(just no complaining to us if it doesn't work )

Well,

I went for it and did it today.

Here is the recipe I brewed, made some changes.

20 Min Black IPA

10 gal batch


12.5 lbs Pilsn DME
1.5 lb corn sugar
4.5 lbs Pale 2row
1lb Crystal 40
1lb Crystal 120
1lb Carapils
1lb Caraffa 2 late mash addition for color
2oz magnum 20 min
2oz chinook 20 min
1oz magnum 15 min
1oz columbus 15 min
1oz chinook 15 min
2oz amarillo 10 min
2oz centennial 10 min
1oz magnum 10 min
1oz amarillo 5 min
1oz centennial 5 min
1 oz amarillo 0 min
1 oz centennial 0min
1 oz magnum 0 min
1 oz chinook 0 min
1 oz columbus 0 min
2 oz sorachi ace 0 min

og 1.081
safale us05

Full 60 min mash in igloo. 1lb grain to 1.5 gal h2o. Batch sparge.


Took 2 hours and 45 min from propane on to cleanup done.

Ill post when carbed...

GlassblowersBrew said:

2oz magnum 20 min
2oz chinook 20 min
1oz magnum 15 min
1oz columbus 15 min
1oz chinook 15 min
2oz amarillo 10 min
2oz centennial 10 min
1oz magnum 10 min
1oz amarillo 5 min
1oz centennial 5 min
1 oz amarillo 0 min
1 oz centennial 0min
1 oz magnum 0 min
1 oz chinook 0 min
1 oz columbus 0 min
2 oz sorachi ace 0 min

Click to expand...

Holy #%$( Batman!

21oz of hops?! Call this "Hop-me Blackjack Ale"

you could boil hops in pure water in a separate pot alongside your boil kettle, then add at the end. The lack of sugar in the water/hop "tea" would result in way more utilization, thereby resembling the IBUs of a 60 min addition.

Ive added boiled hop water to my bottling bucket to save a "too sweet" beer before, and it worked perfectly.

alcibiades said:

you could boil hops in pure water in a separate pot alongside your boil kettle, then add at the end. The lack of sugar in the water/hop "tea" would result in way more utilization, thereby resembling the IBUs of a 60 min addition.

Ive added boiled hop water to my bottling bucket to save a "too sweet" beer before, and it worked perfectly.

Click to expand...

That sounds like a really good idea.

I know the amount of hops is stupid gross, but im trying to us em up so my fiance can use the freezer too. I got greedy and bought more than I could use in a reasonable time.

Not a bad position to be in.....:rockin:

A month has passed since brew day, any updates?
I know that is a short time on a beer like this but I can't wait to hear how this is comming along.

alcibiades said:

Ive added boiled hop water to my bottling bucket to save a "too sweet" beer before, and it worked perfectly.

Click to expand...

I've also added directly to the keg to mask sweetness (but that's a different thread altogether), and it worked well. And, the hop-tea tastes amazing! You'll be lucky to have any left to add by the time you're done sampling it.